Various types of communication or educational aids have been proposed as learning tools for children or retarded or physically disabled individuals. A communication aid may take the form of the identification of objects, a comparison of size or shapes, the identification of letters or words, a comparison of likes or opposites, or teaching of left-right directionality.
With small children or a handicapped person, it is helpful to initially begin the learning process with physical objects and then proceed to pictures or words.
One type of communication aid is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,465,465. The communication aid of that patent includes a housing or console and a group of large pressure operated switches are mounted on an inclined front surface of the console and a series of cards which bear pictures of objects are located directly above each switch. By actuating one of the switches, an audio message is played which corresponds to the object on the card and a light associated with the card is also illuminated.
Another type of communication aid, as used in the past, has consisted of a housing having a top surface adapted to support a series of commonly recognized physical objects. The housing also includes a front surface and a group of cards bearing pictures or illustrations are mounted on the housing in alignment with one of the objects on the top supporting surface. In normal use each picture would be an illustration of the physical object located above the respective picture. A switch is mounted in alignment with each picture and physical object and each switch is connected through an electrical circuit to a light and an audible signal, such as a horn or buzzer. With this type of communication aid, the teacher will ask the student a question dealing with the objects and pictures and the student will answer or respond by pushing one of the switch buttons, thus illuminating the light and sounding the audible signal associated with that object.